Sewer Rat is a Sewer Cat

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Three cheers for Bronx Department of Environmental Protection worker Samuel Barcone, who rescued sewer cat Motz from life as a sewer rat this week.

Motz escaped his home through an open door during a barbecue. Despite thorough searches of the neighborhood, his owner, Edita Pjetrovic, came up empty handed.

She finally got a break when a friend at a local pizzeria told her a cat’s yowls had been heard from beneath a nearby sewer grate at Morris Park Avenue and White Plains Road.

Firefighters were unsuccessful in coaxing Motz out. DEP workers came to the rescue, using video cameras to locate the cat. Then DEP worker Samuel Barcone crawled into the sewer to extricate the fuzzy shrieking claw monster.

Pjetrovic gushed with gratitude for the DEP and Samuel Barcone.

“They really helped. They were really kind,” said Pjetrovic.

REMINDER: During the summer, when you have lots of guests over to your house for barbeques and swim parties, remember to confine your cats inside the house — in a spare bedroom, for example — so that they don’t escape when a visitor carelessly leaves a door open. People who are not “cat people” often forget to close doors behind them, no matter how often they’re admonished to do so.